In the line of fire: Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine

As human rights organizations call for an end to repression against the press in Eastern Ukraine, RT recalls the journalists who were abducted, tortured or paid the ultimate price and lost their lives while reporting from the heart of the civil war.

Eastern Ukraine has been dubbed a “trap for journalists”
by Human Rights Watch’s representative in Russia as the deepening
crisis has already taken the lives of six journalists since the
beginning of the year.

Many more journalists have been abducted, interrogated and even
tortured while caught in the crossfire in the fighting between
the Ukraine Army and the militia forces of southeastern Ukraine.

RT takes a look at some of the deadliest and most brutal
incidents.

Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin (Russia) – killed

Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin both worked for Rossiya TV
channel. On June 17, Kornelyuk, a correspondent for Vesti, and
Voloshin, a video engineer, were killed during a mortar shelling
of the Metallist and Mirnoye villages near Lugansk.

Anatoly Klyan (Russia) – killed

On June 30, a cameraman from Russia’s Channel One television,
Anatoly Klyan, was killed by law enforcement agencies in the
eastern city of Donetsk. Klyan, along with a few other
journalists, boarded a bus full of women – mostly mothers – who
were traveling to a military base in Donetsk to demand the
disbandment of a military unit where their sons had been
recruited to serve. He was wounded in the stomach as the bus was
shelled and died on the way to the hospital.

Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli was hit along with his
interpreter, Andrey Mironov, by Kiev’s mortar fire near the
village of Andreevka, a couple of kilometers from Slavyansk, on
May 25. Rocchelli was covering the ongoing conflict ahead of the
snap presidential elections.

Andrey Stenin (Russia) - missing

On August 5, Rossiya Segodnya (formerly RIA Novosti) news agency
received photo-journalist Andrey Stenin’s last report before he
went missing. He reported from the center of the Ukrainian
crisis, beginning with Kiev’s Maidan protests in November
following onto the horrors of Odessa, then in the Crimea, and
most lately, the fierce fighting in parts of east Ukraine.

Graham Phillips (UK) – abducted, interrogated

Graham Phillips, a UK national, has been working as a freelance
journalist and as an RT contributor in eastern Ukraine. He was
detained by Ukrainian security service twice. First he was
detained in May at a checkpoint near Mariupol and held captive by
the Kiev military for over 36 hours. Then in late July he was
captured at the Donetsk international airport, interrogated and
allegedly tortured for reporting about the developments in
Ukraine. Following his release, Graham was banned from returning
to Ukraine for three years.

Simon Ostrovsky (US) – abducted, interrogated

On April 21, Simon Ostrovsky was taken captive in Slavyansk by
the local militia while producing "Russian Roulette," a series of
video reports for Vice News. He was interrogated on the basis of
claims that he had links to the far-right group Right Sector. He
was held captive in a basement in the local SBU headquarters for
four days and then released.

Anton Skiba (Ukraine) – abducted, interrogated

On July 22, Anton Skiba, a freelance Ukrainian journalist working
for US news network CNN, was captured by the local militia in
Donetsk. He was questioned on suspicion of having multiple forms
of identification with different surnames.

Evgeny Davydov, Nikita Konashenkov (Russia) – abducted, tortured

Russian journalists Evgeny Davydov and Nikita Konashenkov,
working for working for Zvezda TV channel, were captured by
Kiev’s forces on June 14 while on their way to the airport in
Dnepropetrovsk, heading back home. They were interrogated and
tortured by the Right Sector group, as they described their
abductors, for two days. The journalists said that along with
constant intimidation, interrogations and beatings, they received
several death threats from their captors.

Oleg Sidyakin, Marat Saichenko (Russia) – abducted, tortured

On May 18, two journalists from Russia’s LifeNews, Oleg Sidyakin
and Marat Saichenko, were detained near Kramatorsk by Kiev’s
forces. The Ukrainian authorities accused them of assisting
“terrorism” in the east of the country while a video of the two
was released showing them with their hands tied, kneeling on the
ground. The journalists were released after a week.

Andrey Sushenkov, Anton Malyshev (Russia) - abducted,
interrogated

The Ukrainian National Guard detained Zvezda TV channel’s video
operator Andrey Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev at a
military roadblock near the city of Slavyansk on June 6.
According to their driver, they were blindfolded and handcuffed
during a routine check, and then taken to an undisclosed
location. They were held captive for two days and accused of
espionage.

Many more journalists from a range of media outlets have come
under fire during the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian
troops have also fired at people with cameras, as well as people
wearing protective press vests.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based
organization promoting the freedom of the press and protection of
journalists from persecution, on Wednesday slammed the conditions
of press freedom in Ukraine, especially in the eastern regions
engulfed by warfare, calling them volatile and deteriorating.